Elena had settled on borrowing Eve's identity for a new plan, but she was not at all familiar with Eve.
Never mind designing the plan itself; she had no idea where to begin.
So she decided to first find out what sort of person Eve had been — and the person who knew Eve best was Lilith.
She could hardly go and ask Lilith directly, which left exactly one way to learn about Eve: ask Severina.
After that, for the few days they were in town, Elena and Lilith stayed in a small villa.
This little villa was considerably smaller than the one on the estate, but compared with the other houses in town it counted as quite luxurious.
Lilith went out every day, saying she had work to handle, and at first Elena went along with her.
But once there she discovered Lilith really was only working, and all Elena could do was pour tea, with no chance to wander off.
That struck her as intensely boring, so for the following days she stayed behind at the little villa alone.
The range Lilith allowed her was anywhere within the town, so she had gone to find Severina by herself — except...
When she went, Severina's shop was not open, and knocking got no answer. She was probably absorbed in making the clothes.
There was nothing for it, and Elena could only turn around and go home.
But Elena was plainly incapable of sitting still, especially on her own; back at the Organization she had at least had Vier for company, and now there was only herself.
Days that dull went on for three of them, and in those three days Elena covered virtually the whole town, and even burned through every last coin of the pocket money Lilith had given her.
She had not been wandering aimlessly, though. In those three days she walked nearly every street in town and committed the whole layout to memory.
And out of professional habit, she also marked a few small corners suitable for surveillance and for hiding.
When any of it might come in useful was another question.
Time always passes quickly, and before she knew it the agreed day for collecting the clothes had arrived.
That day Lilith happened to finish all the work that required her, so it was also the day they would return to the estate.
That afternoon, in the changing room at the back of Severina's shop.
Elena stood alone in front of the full-length mirror, with two new outfits of her own hanging beside her.
Just as she had asked, one was everyday clothing and the other was nightwear.
The everyday set was a cream knitted top with a grey mid-length skirt, plus a pair of over-the-knee socks and low-heeled black shoes.
The outfit was not remotely lavish — it was thoroughly plain, in fact — and yet it had a simple beauty to it.
The nightwear was another matter entirely.
A one-piece nightdress in mostly greyish white, the hem falling just past her backside, the fabric extremely breathable.
Paired with it were fluffy slippers with soft cat-paw pads on the soles and a fluffy eye mask, altogether unbearably cute.
So cute that Elena felt embarrassed; she had never worn anything in this style in her life.
First a silk nightdress and now this cat nightdress. Could these people not prepare her something normal to sleep in?
Even just a longer nightdress would do!
Elena could only complain bitterly, since however much she disliked it there was no use — she had no way to refuse.
Resigned, Elena decided in the end to try them on first. Perhaps they would be comfortable to wear?
Trying to convince herself of that, she took off the maid outfit and changed into the everyday clothes.
The moment she had them on, the way they felt gave Elena a genuine start.
Setting aside how well they fit, the important thing was how light they felt; moving in them was as smooth as wearing nothing at all.
Beyond that, she had the sense that her whole body had gotten lighter, and the feeling was not baseless — she could feel a faint magic radiating from the clothing.
Magic engraved on clothes? she wondered.
She knew dwarven craftsmen had that technique, engraving magical patterns into clothing, with different engravings producing different effects.
But the technique was far too expensive, and Elena had only a passing understanding of it, since she had never imagined she could afford any.
Next she changed into the nightdress, which was the same, except that her body felt lighter still.
When she put the eye mask on her head, her mind immediately felt considerably clearer; the mask appeared to be engraved with a calming enchantment.
What extravagance. She had never imagined Severina possessed this kind of skill.
"If only she weren't Lilith's friend. Then I might have been able to latch onto a decent patron."
Elena shook her head. Never mind; there was no use thinking about it.
"Elena, have you finished changing? Time to get ready to head back."
Lilith's voice came from outside the changing room; she sounded a little impatient.
"Almost done!"
Elena changed back into the everyday clothes, packed up the maid outfit and the nightwear, and walked out.
Outside, Lilith stood at the door holding a bag of clothing of her own — the "special" garments she had commissioned from Severina.
Elena had not seen them, but she could guess they were nothing respectable, and at the thought that she would sooner or later be wearing them herself... that was too terrifying to contemplate.
Seeing Elena come out of the changing room in her new clothes, Lilith looked her over briefly and nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad~ Just a touch too respectable. Not cute enough~"
"That's exactly how it should be!"
Elena shot back at once.
What Lilith meant by "not cute enough" was certainly not the literal meaning; Elena knew perfectly well that Lilith meant not revealing enough, not humiliating enough!
"Fine, fine. As long as my little maid likes it~"
Lilith said it with a laugh; she plainly enjoyed seeing Elena like this, and expressions of this sort were quite the delicacy to her.
"Let's go. The carriage is outside. Time to go home."
"I know. You talk too much."
Elena answered and turned to go.
Coming out of the back room into the front, Severina was seated behind the counter, still in that black gown.
"Looks good. It suits you well."
"Mm, thank you! Clothes like these are much better to wear."
Elena thanked her; Severina might be Lilith's friend, but one thing was one thing, and thanks were owed where thanks were due.
"I'm glad you like them~ Come and visit when you have time. Big sister will always be here."
"Mm."
Lilith happened to come out just then.
"We'll be off, Severina."
"Goodbye~ I'll come out to the estate to visit you both in a few days."
Lilith did not answer, only nodded, and then led Elena out of the shop.
They boarded the carriage and set out on the road home. Life in town had been brief, and in the end they had to return to where they started.
On the way back to the estate, Elena and Lilith were both silent for a long while, and the last stretch of the journey should have passed the same way — but...
"Elena~"
"Eh? Wh-what!"
Lilith suddenly saying her name flustered Elena somewhat.
They had kept silent the whole way; she wasn't planning to start something at the last moment, was she?
"I'm only curious about something~"
Lilith went on with a smile.
"Elena is a killer, isn't she~? Tell me — your job has been failing for quite a while now. Do you suppose someone else might come to finish it for you~?"
"Eh?"